One School, Different Worlds

Class Conflict At Heart Of South Loop Busing Dispute

August 13, 1990|By Karen M. Thomas, Education writer.

Carl Krkles is spending the last few weeks of summer trying to decide whether to bus his 1st-grader, Nicky, to a branch of the South Loop Elementary School, even though the school`s main building is a short walk away from his upscale Dearborn Park home.

It`s not that he doesn`t want Nicky to attend an integrated school. It`s not that he is against Nicky sitting next to a child from the Hilliard Homes public housing development. Or that he is even against the new plan devised by Chicago Schools Supt. Ted Kimbrough to end isolation of students from the Hilliard Homes by merging them with Dearborn Park youngsters and others at the branch.

He is afraid of busing his 6-year-old. He`s afraid the child will be in school across the street from a public housing development ``with a million guns and stray bullets.`` And he`s afraid that if all other parents from the Dearborn Park neighborhood withdraw their children, as some have threatened, his child will be the only white child at the branch, located at 1915 S. Federal St.

``I just don`t know what to do,`` Krkles said.

``It`s just fears,`` said Sheila Garrett, a parent from the Hilliard Homes who fought to integrate the branch school. ``I know some don`t want their kids just surrounded by kids from (public housing). There are good kids and bad kids everywhere. They`re only kids.``

Call it the haves vs. the have-nots, the middle class vs. the poor, or even the affluent vs. the downtrodden. South Loop, at 1212 S. Dearborn St., has become a long, sad tale steeped in class conflict, political clout and distrust.

Even before the school opened its doors, parents from Dearborn Park and the Hilliard Homes had begun battling over boundaries for the red-brick building.

That battle-which has been divided more along economic than racial lines- has taken a toll on staff morale. It has been based on underlying fears by some that poor children will pull down their middle-class counterparts academically. And it has ignited emotions to the point that some middle-class parents say they plan to withdraw their children because the school system has failed them.

``This is kind of a disaster,`` said one teacher who asked not to identified. ``There are teachers who don`t want to come here. Anyone with a brain isn`t going to come into this flak-filled situation. It`s hard enough teaching as it is. It`s a shame, because the children are going to suffer.``

The latest episode, sparked by a board order to overturn a three-year-old plan to place Hilliard Homes children at the branch until 3rd grade, has again raised the issue of education equity in a school system that is supposed to guarantee equal educational opportunity for all children.

``Whether they are in Dearborn Park or in Hilliard Homes, everyone has the right to a fair and equitable education,`` said James Lucien of the Chicago Urban League. ``If Dearborn Park is not satisfied with their kids going to school with kids from the project, then let them send them to private schools.

``But we won`t stand for the denial of educational opportunities for students because they are poor.``

The branch, unlike the main building, lacks a gym, computers, a library and other facilities. There is a junkyard nearby. And all the students at the branch, so far, are black.

Under Kimbrough`s plan, the branch will house all kindergarteners and 1st graders in the school`s attendance area-which means busing the Dearborn Park children who previously walked to the main building. The main building will house students in 2nd through 8th grades.

``There is no question in my mind that we did the right thing,`` said James Compton, president of the interim Chicago Board of Education and head of the Chicago Urban League. ``The children of the parents at Hilliard Homes have suffered a long ordeal of discrimination, and the board was long overdue in corrective action.``

The Urban League, along with other civic and school reform groups, has long aided the Hilliard Homes parents in their fight at the branch school.

Compton`s role as president of the school board, the support of the school system`s Desegregation Monitoring Commission and a pending threat by attorneys working for the Hilliard parents to sue school officials over the racial isolation of children at the branch provided enough political clout for the school board to approve the new plan.

Ultimately, school officials plan to build a second school that would help accommodate the growing number of students in the area.

Meanwhile, though, parents at Hilliard Homes say they are elated with what their lawyers called a ``short-term victory.``

``I hate that anyone would pull their children out,`` Garrett said. ``I feel this is a good opportunity for all of us to come together with common goals. Dearborn Park parents will see that there is no gym, no library, and we`ll have the same needs.``